Gregor Gysi statement on the planned Referendum in Northern Iraq

Gregor Gysi statement on the planned Referendum in Northern Iraq

22 September 2017

Gregor Gysi, President of the European Left, on the planned Referendum in Northern Iraq:

The desire of the Kurds for an own national state is more than understandable. This desire has been strengthened by their discrimination, prosecution and exclusion for decades. Nevertheless: The detachment of a part of a national state from its territory is, according to international law, only legitimate with the approval of this national state. I had the same opinion concerning Kosovo, the Crimea, and also here. But those who permanently justify the Kosovo need to grant the same right to the inhabitants of the Crimea, the Kurds in Northern Iraq, the Catalans in Spain. A referendum of the Kurds does not, however, justify any military action by the Iraq government and even less by Turkey, who has no right to an aggression against the Iraq.